Pinochet's death a reminder of terror

December 18, 2006|Shakeel Hye Davie

The death of Gen. Augusto Pinochet reminds us that Sept. 11 happens to be as dreadful a day for Chileans as for Americans. What is noteworthy is the fact that Gen. Pinochet had the full backing of the U.S. administration of that time.

Thirty-three years ago in Chile, on the 11th of September, Pinochet overthrew the democratically elected government of Salvador Allende in a CIA-backed coup. "Chile should not be allowed to go Marxist just because its people are irresponsible," said Henry Kissinger, Nobel laureate, then the U.S. Secretary of State.

In the reign of terror that followed, thousands of people were killed. Many more simply "disappeared." Firing squads conducted public executions. Concentration camps and torture chambers were opened across the country. The dead were buried in mine shafts and unmarked graves.

For 17 years, the people of Chile lived in dread of the midnight knock, of routine "disappearances," of sudden arrest and torture.

In 1999, following the arrest of Pinochet in Britain, thousands of secret documents were declassified by the U.S. government. They contain unequivocal evidence of the CIA's involvement in the coup as well as the fact that the U.S. government had detailed information about the situation in Chile during Pinochet's reign.

Yet Kissinger assured the general of his support.

Those of us who have only known life in a democracy, however flawed, would find it hard to imagine what living in a dictatorship and enduring the absolute loss of freedom means. It isn't just those whom Pinochet murdered, but the lives he stole from the living that must be accounted for, too.